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Manifest Creator Hatches A 2-Hour Movie Plan To Close the Series


Credit: NBC

After the cancellation of the series on NBC and with no other platforms yet still taking dibs on the show, Manifest Creator Jeff Rake hatches a plan to close the series as he is determined to give the fans the closure that the story needs, answering all the questions as to what really happened to the passengers of Flight 828. He is currently looking to wrap it all up in a 2-hour long movie.

Manifest Creator Hatches A 2-Hour Movie Plan To Close the Series
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Credit: NBC

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Rake disclosed what he felt when the show was canceled, "For the cancellation to happen in the middle of one continuous story is undeniably heartbreaking, frustrating, and demoralizing. I feel all of that personally. I feel it on behalf of the actors, I feel it on behalf of our beloved crew in New York, so many of whom have been with us for all three seasons and have been holding out for many weeks now, trying to delay taking new jobs because they wanted to come back to the show, to the work-family that they love so much. I feel it on behalf of the fans who have kept the show alive. So all of that hurts tremendously. I can't take it personally."

Still, Rake is determined to close the show which was supposed to be a six-season series but was cut short by the cancellation. He said, "I had giant cliffhangers in the season 3 finale, so I had every intention to have three more seasons to slow-burn the back half of the story. I'm reading the writing on the wall that we may not find a home for three more seasons of the show, so I moved to plan B: Some platform would bankroll a feature or a movie finale, like we saw with Timeless, Firefly, and Deadwood."

Rake added, "I just need a modest budget to tell the story. I am personally sketching out how to consolidate the back half of the series into a much more streamlined, cut-to-the-chase two-hour finale that would distill all of the hanging chads of the series. That's where my head is at."

Manifest Creator Hatches A 2-Hour Movie Plan To Close the Series 1
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Credit: NBC

Manifest follows the story of the passengers of Montego Air Flight 828 from Jamaica en route to New York City mysteriously disappeared in thin air without a trace for five and a half years and because of this, they were declared dead, only to have the plane land with all those aboard safe and sound as they only felt those years to be a few minutes of turbulence. However, as they return, they are in for another mysterious ride as they try to discover what happened to them as they now experience callings and the death date is after them.

Season 3 ended with a jaw-dropping cliffhanger after its 13-episode run and there are still a lot of questions that needs answers because the show is just in the middle of the original story plan. If and when there would be no platform to pick the series up, a movie to close out the show would be the perfect choice to give Manifest the ending it deserves.

Related: Manifest Cast Calls Fans To #SaveManifest After Cancellation of the Show

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